1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an electrical connector, and particularly to a connector having a boardlock and a post aligned with each other in a front-to-back direction for mounting to a PC board on which the connector is seated.
2. The Related Art
Generally speaking, for mounting a connector to a PC board, the electrical connector has either boardlocks or posts for temporary retention, i.e., before contact tails are soldered to the PC board, or permanent engagement of the connector to the PC board. The conventional post is integrally formed with the housing, e.g., the plastic post extends from the bottom surface of the plastic housing, while the conventional boardlock is made of metal which is adapted to be inserted into the housing of the connector. Usually, boardlocks and posts are not used together with the same connector. However, some connectors use both boardlocks and posts for achieving better installation and stability of the connector on the PC board. Due to limitations of the circuit board layout, the post and the metal boardlock should sometimes be arranged in alignment with each other in the front-to-back direction. In this situation, conventional assembly of the boardlock to the housing from the back is not easy because the integral post may obstruct forward installation of the boardlock.
A metal post can be used in the connector instead of the conventional post which is integrally formed with the plastic housing. The metal post may be integrally formed with the metal boardlock or as separate components aligned with each other in a front-to-back direction. If the boardlock and the post are integrally formed with each other, both risk becoming displaced if one of them is deformed. Therefore, an object of the invention is to provide an electrical connector with separate posts and boardlocks wherein the post is generally aligned with the boardlock in the front-to-back direction.